SubscriptionsColumn / Investigation: Crypto Politics
Dark money, lobbying, regulatory capture, state institutions hollowed by donor factions, foreign interference, and the financialisation of political power.
-
Conservative Think Tank Urges Sunak to Sabotage Labour Plans for Electoral and Political Reform
The opaquely-funded group has close links to the Prime Minister
-
‘From BP to Banks: There’s Lots of Money Around – It’s Just Not In Workers’ Pockets’
Despite Government calls for pay restraint, new figures show some people are doing very well out of the cost of living crisis, writes Josiah Mortimer
-
Energy Bills Set to Rise Next Year After Colossal Collapse of So Many Companies, MPs Report
Taxpayers have been left with a £2.7 billion bill, according to the Public Accounts Committee
-
Government Rejects Voters’ Calls to Make Lying to Parliament a Crime, Over ‘Freedom of Speech’ Fears
Lying to a court is a crime with a prison sentence. Lying to Parliament can lead to a temporary suspension.
-
‘Letting Young Adults Vote is One of Labour’s Few Genuinely Radical Proposals’
The extension of the franchise could shift the character of British politics, writes Nicholas Reed Langen
-
Reversing the Road to Unfreedom: The Polish Elections are Finally Some Good News for Democracy
Those in America looking for a way out of the toxic Trumpian cycle should look to Poland as a starting point
-
‘Easing Post-Brexit Trade Between the UK and EU Would Benefit Business and Industry on Both Sides’
Mike Buckley, director of the Independent Commission on UK-EU Relations, sets out the tangible steps that could improve post-Brexit trade
-
Conservative ‘Politicisation’ of the Civil Service Has Damaged Public Trust, Warn Peers
A Parliamentary investigation found senior civil servants were being ousted by the Government for ‘ideological’ reasons
-
‘Farcical’: Disbelief as Disgraced Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is Appointed as ‘Democracy Union’ Adviser
Johnson was found to have unlawfully suspended Parliament and lied to MPs.
-
‘Scrap Voter ID to Save Cash’, Democracy Group Tells Jeremy Hunt Ahead of Autumn Statement
Mandatory voter ID rules are expected to cost the taxpayer £120m over the next decade.
-
Keir Starmer ‘Waters Down’ Labour Commitment to Overhauling Unelected House of Lords
Only last December, Sir Keir backed plans for a “new second chamber” which would have “electoral legitimacy”.
-
Georgia’s Governing Party is Distancing Itself from the EU and Ukraine
By aligning itself with the Kremlin, the Georgian Dream party is at odds with the country’s population who want to move closer to NATO and the EU
-
Firm Chaired By ‘Pro-Privatisation’ Right-Wing US Billionaire in Line to Oversee NHS Health Data
Max Colbert and Josiah Mortimer explore the chequered history of the current favourites for the NHS’ new Data Platform.
-
Government Slammed Over ‘Chilling’ Warning Shot to Media Outlets Over Russell Brand Coverage
“A Legal Officer’s duty is to apply the law, not to interfere with the editorial decisions of a free press,” standards body Impress said in a letter to the Government.
-
‘Ed Balls and George Osborne’s New Podcast is Essential Listening – But Not for the Reasons They Think’
The two former chancellors reveal how ‘the grown-ups in the room’ collude in their outlook
-
Companies House Failings Enable Global Fraud and Identity Theft
The lax management of the UK companies register allows fake businesses to proliferate
-
How Campaigners and Charities are being ‘Gagged by Government’ as Report Issues Stark Warning
From the Lobbying Act to condemnation of peaceful campaigners by Government figures, free speech has been thoroughly degraded, the authors argue
-
‘Children of Men’ – 17 Years On: A Grave Warning to a Nation Adrift
The 2006 film set in a dystopian London of the future has much to say about modern Britain – especially the ‘doom loop’ trapping younger generations, writes Matt Gallagher
-
Revealed: Former MPs Used Parliament Access Passes Over 3,000 times
This is the last time you’ll ever know about ex-MPs who lobby for nuclear, gambling and energy industries visiting Parliament – because Jacob Rees Mogg had all the data destroyed
-
Fears of a ‘Progressive Tragedy’ in Mid Beds as Labour and Lib Dems Fight It Out
Compass director Neal Lawson described the situation in Nadine Dorries’ seat as “madness”.
-
Brexit: Betrayal, Divergence and Dishonesty
Despite Keir Starmer’s mixed comments on our future relationship with the EU, Labour’s Brexit omertà seems to be over, writes Shamik Das
-
Voter ID, Big Party Bungs, and Payouts to Shamed MPs Would Be Scrapped Under Lib Dem Plans
The Liberal Democrats have set out proposals for overhauling UK democracy, our Chief Reporter writes from Bournemouth.
-
‘Government Stonewalling on Transparency on Foreign Influence Undermines its Tough Rhetoric on Chinese Spying’
An approach to foreign influence that relies on identifying particular state threats risks shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, writes Tom Griffin
-
Campaigners Risk Prison by Standing Outside Courts Telling Jurors of ‘Right to Acquit’
Trudi Warner faces up to two years in prison for contempt of court. Now activists across the country are copying her action in solidarity
-
Welsh Government Throws Down the Gauntlet in Bid to Stop Controversial ‘Anti-Boycott’ Bill
Opponents of the bill say it is designed to undermine the freedom of speech of those critical of the Israeli Government
-
Government Rejects Call For Voters To Boot Out No-Show MPs Like Nadine Dorries
Nadine Dorries has prompted a debate over whether MPs should be forced to attend Parliament – rather than attend their lucrative TV gigs.
-
Putin’s Post-Truth Politics: The Impeachment of Biden is History Rewritten as Farce
The spurious Republican inquiry treads the same treacherous ground of Russian propaganda exposed in the impeachment of Trump
-
‘A Poor Country with a Few Rich People in it’: Renowned Inequalities Expert Speaks Out as Bereaved Families Give their Accounts of ‘The Unequal Pandemic’
A new short film reveals the heart-wrenching stories of those who lost their loved ones to COVID – and exposes the politics of poverty behind the crisis
-
One Alleged Chinese Spy Simply Means There Are Many More
China has emerged as a greater threat than Russia, despite Ukraine. In the New Cold War, China is richer, more populous, and the dominant power pitted against the West
-
Voter ID Made it Harder for Young, Poor and Ethnic Minorities to Vote, Official Study Finds
The study suggests that those groups less likely to vote Conservative were more likely to be turned away
-
Westminster’s Two-Party ‘Duopoly’ Leaves Voters with ‘Little Choice’ and Lacking ‘Meaningful Voice’, Study Finds
Political distrust has often “been the first step in a sequence of autocratisation, resulting in the breakdown of democracy itself” the report notes.
-
Press Watchdog Writes to Conservatives and Party Chairs Over ‘Misleading’ Fake Newspapers
The party is “misleading voters into believing what they are reading is the work of local journalists from independent publications”
-
‘Rather than Blaming Capitalism, the Right Blames the Immigrant’
The significant gains made by the right across Europe in recent years haven’t appeared out of the blue, writes Simon Speakman Cordall
-
‘Noisy Reporting’ by Media of COVID Financial Scandals led to UK’s Slump in Corruption Index, Cabinet Office Claims
A new parliamentary report reveals that, apart from the £16.4 billion estimated tax and benefit fraud found by the National Audit Office last year, ministers have no idea about the level of fraud in the rest of government
-
‘Britain and the US: How the Oligarchies Posing as Democracies have Been Exposed’
Something even worse than government run by politicians is government run by politics, writes AC Grayling
-
‘Austerity is a False Economy that has Brought the Nation’s Roof Crumbling Down’
The collapsing school buildings scandal has exposed how the Government failed to ‘fix the roof while the sun was shining’
-
‘If Our Government Turns on its Own People, We Will Need the ECHR to Protect Us’
The European Court of Human Rights is there to safeguard us against our own worst impulses – calls to leave its jurisdiction are deeply troubling, writes Alexandra Hall Hall
-
Rishi Sunak’s Government is ‘Institutionally Corrupt’ Say Voters
A majority of voters believe corruption in the UK Government has got worse in recent years, according to our exclusive new poll
-
Rishi Sunak Says ‘All Crimes’ Must Be Investigated – So Why is he Blocking Plans to Go After Fraudsters, Cronies and Kleptocrats?
Sunak’s Government is throwing out plans to get dirty money out of the UK
-
‘The Modern Conservative Party Holds the ‘Will of the People’ in Contempt’
In Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives, the ethos of public service is being replaced by self-service
-
A Timeline of Interference: How Trump and Russia Targeted Georgia Election
Big questions remain about Russia’s attempts to interfere in US elections
-
How Cultural Workers are Striking Back Against Poverty Pay
A new wave of unionisation in the cultural sector is pushing back against a decade of austerity in the sector
-
The Russian-Linked Fintech Moguls Given Safe Haven by the UK
Matt Bernardini reveals the Russian-linked Fintech companies that continue to operate from the UK, despite being sanctioned elsewhere for their ties to the country
